Joseph Kenworthy

Joseph Montague Kenworthy, 10th Baron Strabolgi (7 March 1886 – 8 October 1953), was a Liberal Member of Parliament and later a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Strabolgi was born at Leamington in Warwickshire and educated at the Eastman's Royal Naval Academy at Northward Park in Winchester and as a cadet on H.M.S. Britannia. He joined the Royal Navy in 1902 and served for seventeen years, including the First World War period. During the war he was for a short but critical period in the Plans Division of the Admiralty War Staff. He left for an appointment in the Mediterranean which enabled him to see the latest developments of war on sea-borne commerce at close quarters. He returned to the Grand Fleet in time to be present at the final surrender of German sea power. He resigned from the Navy in 1920 to enter Parliament.

Kenworthy first tried to enter Parliament at the 1918 general election fighting Rotherham as a Liberal but came third. He was soon given another chance though when he was selected to contest Central Hull at a by-election in 1919. Anti-Coalition government sentiment was riding high and he was duly elected Member of Parliament for the Liberals. Kenworthy was one of the more energetic supporters of H H Asquith in Parliament and never lost his hostility to Lloyd George. During the 1924-29 parliament which was dominated by a Unionist majority, he worked closely with a group of radical Liberal MPs that included William Wedgwood Benn, Percy Harris, Frank Briant and Horace Crawfurd to provide opposition to the government. When Lloyd George became leader of the Liberal Party in 1926, despite the party taking on a more radical hue, Kenworthy resigned from the party and joined Labour. He also resigned his Parliamentary seat and fought and won a by-election in Central Hull standing for Labour. He held the seat for Labour Labour Party until 1931. In 1934, he succeeded his father as Lord Strabolgi, and was the opposition (that is, Labour Party) chief whip in the House of Lords from 1938 to 1942.

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